Create your own HTML5 web gallery!

You might have noticed how much the web pages has changed in the past years. Nicer, cleaner interfaces and web applications appeared all around the www that can adapt to any device. This huge leap in the evolution was made possible by the new web page standards, called HTML5 and CSS3.

For a long time web designers were locked into the early 2000's technological level thanks to Microsoft's indifference in adopting new standards and fixing browser bugs in Internet Explorer. Fortunately the evolution appears to be stronger than MS, and by now the vast majority of visitors is using a web browser that's capable of handling HTML5 pages. (Included all mobile browsers!) The only major player left from the prehistoric ages is IE8, with its 14% share. But I guess, you don't want to miss out on that 14% either, do you? No worries, HTML5 works fine on these old browsers too, even back to Internet Explorer 6. The skin will introduce the new tags (<header>, <nav>, <menu>, <article>, <footer>, ...) with a small script. Naturally, they will not show the new CSS3 features (rounded corners, gradients, custom fonts, etc.), but this won't affect the page usability-wise, only the visual extras. And those who are using such old browsers got used to that look already. HTML5 is so much simpler to learn, so much better structured and all the development on the web is focusing on this standard, so I'd encourage everyone to use it right now.

Historically, meanwhile HTML5 was known for developers for years, it became a hot topic since around April 2010 when Steve Jobs of Apple has concluded that “Flash is no longer necessary to watch video or consume any kind of web content” and that “new open standards created in the mobile era, such as HTML5, will win”. In November 2011 even Adobe announced that it will discontinue development of Flash for mobile devices and focus on HTML5 technology. Battle won.

The HTML5 Boilerplate is the most widely adopted HTML5 framework, a combined effort of 100s of developers. Its purpose is maintaining identical look and behavior though all browsers and giving a solid foundation for any HTML5 web page. High Five skin is a simple implementation of the HTML5 Boilerplate with some basic features, which you can easily enhance. If you happen to need help, you can always ask find us in the General Development forum.

But even if you are not a developer, I suggest you to give it try. It's pretty easy to use, clean and elegant, and it does a good job in presenting your album to search bots too.

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If a page's separation (HTML=structure, CSS=style, JS=interaction) is proper, the missing CSS3 features (rounding, gradient, drop shadow) should not affect the album's functionality. And those using old browsers are already accustomed to the "crappy" look. All those CSS things that would affect functionality (e.g. fixed position) should be worked around in HTML5.